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TARRYTOWN — A mass transit system along Interstate 287 could potentially be funded by a special sales tax or toll revenue from the new Tappan Zee Bridge — controversial topics the span’s mass transit task force plans to tackle sooner than later.

“None of these are popular ideas but they are ways in which communities can make investments,” Trent Lethco, a transportation engineering consultant, told the 28-member panel at its fourth meeting on Friday, which was held at the senior center in Tarrytown.

After public outcry that the $4 billion Tappan Zee replacement project didn’t include mass transit improvements along I-287, Gov. Andrew Cuomo formed the panel to explore how to alleviate congestion around the bridge. It has one year to meet and come up with recommendations.

The panel had initially planned to talk about possible funding sources this summer, but those discussions have been moved up to next month, when the panel hopes to create a separate committee to focus on the issue.

“We don’t want to get to a point in six months and say, ‘This is the option,’ but it’s unaffordable and unattainable,” state Thruway executive director Thomas Madison said at Friday’s meeting.

Though the mass transit task force has yet to select a type of system, members expressed support for enhanced bus service such as bus rapid transit. The system is typically marked by dedicated busways or bus lanes and technology to control traffic lights and shorten rides.

“You have to change the mindset of people,” said Harriet Cornell, chairwoman of the Rockland County legislature, D-West Nyack. “They think the only people who ride buses are people who don’t have cars. It’s making transit systems desirable for people and have it fit into their lives and make it more convenient so they don’t have to use their cars.”

Lethco provided examples of bus rapid transit and express bus systems across the country. San Francisco, for example, has 22 local and express bus routes that go across the Golden Gate Bridge and along Highway 101.

“The (bridge) toll pays for the transit and the transit makes the bridge more efficient and reduces travel times for everyone,” he said.

Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, argued that 287 funding needs to be on a “a statewide level.”

“I don’t want to see any additional burden on our Rockland and Westchester communities,” she said.